The present invention relates to data storage systems and, in particular, to a disc drive write protection scheme that conforms to Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) standards.
Mass storage devices are one of many components of modern computers. One type of mass storage device is the fixed disc drive. Such drives are used to store vast amounts of information relating to operating systems, applications, and user data. Some of this information is critical to the functioning of the host system in which the disc drive operates. In addition, the recent dramatic decrease in the cost of disc drives has resulted in them being used in many non-conventional applications, such as, audio/video applications, internet set-top boxes, gaming stations, etc. All these applications require special software to be pre-loaded onto a disc. If application software or other critical information is intentionally or unintentionally overwritten, significant losses could occur. Thus, these applications require more sophisticated write protection security features.
Advances in disc drive technology have made them more interoperable and mobile. A standard ATA data exchange interface developed by the National Committee for Information Technology Standards is utilized as the disk drive interface on most personal and mobile computers today. Disc drive mobility and interoperability has increased the need for data security. A variety of read/write protection applications already exist in the disc drive industry. Network and operating system applications are the most common, for example, typing a password in a dialog box, when prompted, to gain access to a particular application or update access to a particular database. However, most of these applications are implemented by separate software and not directly on the disc drive prior to its installation.
Techniques for read/write protection also include the use of reserved sectors on a disc cartridge or drive to store protection status information relating to other disc locations which are to be read/write protected. One such technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,561 entitled xe2x80x9cREAD/ WRITE PROTECT SCHEME FOR A DISK CARTRIDGE AND DRIVExe2x80x9d which relates to a disc storage system with a rewritable code stored on the disc to implement read/write protection. The protection scheme described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,561 does not conform to ATA protocol standards and also fails to provide a command to inquire the security mode of the drive. Therefore, need arises for an ATA compatible write protection scheme that can write protect portions of the disc or the entire disc.
The present invention addresses these problems, and offers other advantages over the prior art.
The present invention relates to data storage systems that include an ATA compatible write protection scheme that can write protect portions of the disc or the entire disc, thereby solving the above-mentioned problem.
A disc drive storage system and device for use with a host computer is provided in which information contained on the disc drive can be write protected with an ATA compatible write protection scheme. The system includes at least one rotatable disc having a disc surface with a plurality of physical memory locations. These physical memory locations are referenced by the host computer through logical block addresses. The physical memory locations include data storage locations and attribute storage locations. The attribute storage locations store protection status information corresponding to the data storage locations. Protection status information indicates whether the data storage locations can be written to. A spindle motor is coupled to the disc. A head reads information from the physical memory locations and writes information to the physical memory locations. An actuator supports the head over the disc surface. A disc controller which is coupled to the spindle motor and the actuator controls operation of the disc. In addition, the controller exchanges information with the host computer through an ATA data exchange protocol. The controller receives write protection commands that are compatible with the ATA data exchange protocol from the host. These write protection commands relate to the write protection status information of at least one logical block address. The controller executes the write protection commands to thereby implement a write protection scheme compatible with the ATA data exchange protocol. In addition, a method of write protecting a disc drive with an ATA compatible write protection scheme is provided.
These and various other features as well as advantages which characterize the present invention will be apparent upon reading of the following detailed description and review of the associated drawings.